United States Navy



Archives Branch

Naval History and Heritage Command

805 Kidder Breese Street, SE

Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5060

Processor: Roy Grossnick (Updated July 2012) and originally processed by Martha L. Crawley, November 1979.

H. Kent Hewitt Papers

COLL/138

Creator: Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, USN

Extent: 8 boxes

2.7 cubic feet

Date Range: 1907-1977

Classification: On 27 August 2009, Mr. Danny Ray (Vangent Declassification) ruled that the personal paper collection of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt did not require a Kyl-Lott Security Review and the collection was open to researchers. This statement was dated 1 September 2009 by Archivist John Hodges, NHHC. Under the initial declassification review all records were identified as declassified in full.

Access: Open

Scope and Content Notes

Admiral Hewitt's papers reflect the major events and duties of his career. They have been divided into five series: I, Correspondence; II, Subject File; III, Scrapbooks and Newspaper clippings; IV, Datebooks; and V, Oral History.

The Correspondence series is arranged in chronological order and begins with his letters written while on board USS Missouri during the world cruise of the Great White Fleet in 1908. His trip to South America as commanding officer of USS Indianapolis with President Roosevelt on board is represented by incoming and outgoing telegrams and letters.

The bulk of Admiral Hewitt's correspondence, however, concerns his experiences as a notable amphibious commander in Europe during World War II. Two folders of correspondence cover the TORCH Landings in North Africa. Included are a holograph letter from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, intelligence and weather reports, and dispatches concerning the operation. The 1943 correspondence concerns Admiral Hewitt's duties as commander, U. S. Naval Forces, Northwest African Waters. His exchange of letters with Admiral Harry E. Yarnell concerning the unification of the armed services and creation of a separate air force is also filed here. Other World War II figures who appear in this series are Fleet Admiral. Ernest J. King, Admiral John L. Hall, General George Patton, and British Admirals Lord Louis Mountbatten, Sir John Cunningham, and Sir Andrew Cunningham.

In 1947 Admiral Hewitt exchanged letters with Samuel Eliot Morison concerning the Casablanca phase of the North African landing. Hewitt's interest in recording his role during World War II can be seen in his correspondence of the 1950s and 1960s with historians Morison, Stephen Roskill, and Admiral Ernest Eller.

A great deal of the correspondence in this series is of a personal nature. For example, in 1967, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Hewitt exchanged conciliatory letters, renewing a friendship that had been interrupted by the Pearl Harbor Investigation, headed by Hewitt, in 1945.

Finally, a few letters sent from several correspondents to Mrs. Hewitt are included.

Series II is a Subject File, alphabetically arranged, which covers events from about 1907 to 1964. It contains reports, articles, and other material chiefly concerning Admiral Hewitt's leadership of amphibious assaults in Europe. In addition to three folders containing orders, pay records, and commendations, this series contains official reports on the Sicily, Salerno, and Southern France landings, as well as miscellaneous items concerning the TORCH operation. The folder of invitations and cards reflect the social duties of a naval officer stationed in many parts of the world. Also included in this series are several Naval War College lectures given by Admiral Hewitt and other officers. One very large historical map, given to Admiral Hewitt on a visit to Turkey, is stored in a map case.

The major events of Admiral Hewitt's career are also chronicled in the third series, Scrapbooks and Newspaper clippings. There is a xeroxed copy of a scrapbook his mother kept, as well as a scrapbook of newspaper clippings' concerning USS Indianapolis. A large number of miscellaneous loose newspaper clippings comprise the rest of this series.

Admiral Hewitt recorded his daily appointments, particularly during the war years, in datebooks and logs, which are in the fourth series, Datebooks. Also included here are several Admiral's Night Order Books covering his convoy duty in the Atlantic. Some of his notes which list important dates and appointments are also filed in this series.

The last set in the papers of Admiral Hewitt is one box of Oral History transcripts and tapes. Some of these are rough transcripts of interviews conducted probably by Lieutenant Commander John Claggett, USN (Ret.), a biographer of Admiral Hewitt, with the Admiral and with various people who knew him during World War II. Included is a rough transcript of an interview with Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, and one with Rear Admiral Julian Boit, USN. A tape taken from a glass sound recording of Admiral Hewitt's July Fourth greeting to the Danish people on his trip to the Copenhagen in 1946 is also in this box. The glass record and other items in the Hewitt Collection, such as photographs, photographic scrapbooks:, and artifacts are located in the Curator Branch of this command.

There are numerous collections in the Operational Archives Branch which would contain documents relating to Admiral Hewitt's service in World War II. The Action Reports and War Diaries of ships under his command and the World War II Command File contain much information on the amphibious landings in Europe. The papers of Commander, Naval Forces Europe, the central files of the Chief of Naval Operations and of the Commander in Chief, U. S. Fleet, and the Strategic Plans Division Records are but a few of the other holdings that contain material on these operations.

The collection also includes records from Accession Number 2005-122.

Biography

The papers of Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt (1877-1972) reflect the major events in a long and important naval career. After graduating from the Naval Academy, Hewitt went to sea on board USS Missouri, which was part of the Great White Fleet that circumnavigated the globe from 1907 to 1909.

After several years of sea duty in various ships, Hewitt taught mathematics at the Naval Academy until he was assigned to command the yacht USS Eagle. On duty in the Caribbean, the Eagle helped to protect Americans in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution in 1917.

Hewitt commanded the destroyer USS Cummings in convoy work during World War I, and in that ship escorted President Wilson, who was on board USS George Washington to France. In 1936, the then Captain Hewitt was again involved in presidential duties. He commanded the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis which took President Franklin D. Roosevelt to South America.

In 1940 Admiral Hewitt commanded the U. S. Special Service Squadron. Later that year he headed Cruiser Division Eight, and became Commander Cruisers Atlantic Fleet when the Division was transferred to the Atlantic in June 1941. Hewitt commanded Atlantic Fleet Task Groups in neutrality patrols and convoys until he became Commander Amphibious Force Atlantic in April 1942.

In this capacity he assumed command of the Western Naval Task Force which took U. S. troops from Norfolk, Va., and landed them in Morocco on November 8, 1942. This was known as the TORCH operation. He headed the U. S. Naval Forces in North West African Waters, the Eighth Fleet, under the Allied Naval Command of British Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham. In July 1943 he landed the U. S. Seventh Army in Sicily and in September he commanded the Allied Combined Forces which landed the Allies under Lieutenant General Mark Clark on Salerno. The last big World War II operation that Admiral Hewitt commanded was the landing of the Allied Forces in Southern France in August 1944.

The rest of his career was occupied with chairing a Pearl Harbor Investigation in 1945, commanding U. S. Naval Forces in Europe from August 1945 to September 1946, advising the Naval War College and finally, from 1947 to 1949, representing the Navy at the U. N. Security Council's Military Staff Committee. He retired from active duty in 1949.

Box and Folder Listing

Box 1

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, INCOMING AND OUTGOING

Folders:

1907-1909 (Great White Fleet)

1930-1939

1940

Oct-Dec 1942 (TORCH). 2 folders

1943 3 folders

1944

1945

1946

1947. 2 folders

1948 (American Legion Correspondence)

1949 (and n.d. 1940s)

1950-1955

Box 2

1956-1959

1960-1965

1966-1969

1970-1972

Mrs. Hewitt's Correspondence

SERIES II: SUBJECT FILE

Biographical Information (includes a chronology written by John Claggett)

Casablanca

USS Eagle (Typed log, Nov 1, 1916-Apr 30, 1917, made at a later date)

Invitations and Cards

Keuffel &Esser Correspondence (1936-1948; concerns lawsuit relating to a patent on a slide rule used by Hewitt and other officers who taught mathematics at the Naval Academy)

Logistics of the Eighth Fleet (and Commander U.S. Naval Forces, North West African Waters, 1942-1945)

Box 3

Miscellaneous (1920-1958; includes items relating to TORCH, an essay on U. S. naval operations in the Mediterranean theater, an autographed photograph of General Mark Clark, and other materials; some items are filed in OVERSIZE, and an historical map in Turkish, probably of Columbus' explorations, is in the map case)

Naval War College Lectures (1924-1947)

Orders, Pay and Commendations (1921-1948). 3 folders

Pearl Harbor Report (l945 Report by Admiral H.K. Hewitt on Further Pearl Harbor Investigation)

Salerno Landings (Sep-Oct 1943, Action Report, Western Naval Task Force, Jan 1945, Admiral's Copy)

Box 4

Sicilian Campaign (Jul-Aug 1943, Action Report, Western Naval Task Force, Operation HUSKY)

Southern France: folder 1. Preliminary Report of Invasion of Southern France, 9 August, 1944 to 25 September, 1944. Personal copy of Vice Admiral H. K. Hewitt, Naval Commander, Western Naval Task Force

folder 2. Invasion of Southern France, Report of Naval Commander, Western Task Force, Personal Copy of VADM. H. K. Hewitt, US Navy

folder 3. Miscellaneous items, including "The Landing of the Seventh Army in France," and “Operation ANVIL-DRAGOON” article by Adm. Hewitt (Ret.). Some newspapers and magazine _articles, 1944, are filed in OVERSIZE

Southern France - Twentieth Anniversary of Invasion (includes schedule and correspondence)

U. S. Naval Forces in Europe, August, 1945 (Roster of Officers).

SERIES III: SCRAPBOOKS M~D NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS

News Clippings (pre-World War II)

News Clippings (World War II)

News Clippings (post-World War II)

Scrapbook of Admiral Hewitt's Mother (Xeroxed copy) ca. 1908-1915

Scrapbook re: USS Indianapolis filed in OVERSIZE

Box 5

SERIES IV: DATEBOOKS AND DIARIES

Personal Log, 16-31 Dec 1907, kept on board USS Missouri

Personal Log 18 Nov - 14 Dec 1936, kept on board USS Indianapolis during President Roosevelt's trip to South America

Admiral's Night Order, Book:. 7 Feb - 30 Oct 1941, kept as Commander Cruiser Division Eight, Pacific Fleet, transferred in June to Commander Cruisers Atlantic Fleet

Admiral's Night Order Book, 10 Oct 1941 - 3 Mar 1942

Personal Diary while commander, U. S. Naval Forces, North West African Waters:

Vol. 1, Mar 1943 - Sep 1944

Vol. 2, Sep 1944 - Apr 1945

Datebooks:

1944

1945

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1959

1960

Diary Notes (this folder contains several sets of pages and cards noting important dates from 1940-1946; includes a few photographs)

Box 6

SERIES V: ORAL HISTORY

Admiral Hewitt:

folder 1. Early Years - interview conducted by John Claggett. Transcript.

folder 2. TORCH - interview conducted by John Claggett. Transcript and tape.

folder 3. The Reminiscences of Admiral Hewitt. Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, 1962.

Rear Admiral Julian Boit, USN and James Riley. Chiefly concerns the Salerno landings in 1943; rough transcript, n.d., interviewer unknown.

Admiral Richard L. Connolly, USN. Contains excerpts from his Reminiscences, Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, 1960.

Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Interviewed by John Claggett; n. d.. rough transcript.

Chief Wagner, Admiral Hewitt's Driver. Rough transcript, n.d., interviewer unknown.

Tape of Admiral Hewitt's greeting given on July 4, 1946 on the occasion of USS Houston's visit to Copenhagen. Houston was the flagship of the Admiral, as commander of the Twelfth Fleet. Captain Dietrich. USN, commander of the ship, and various Danish officials are also on the tape, which is in Danish and English. (Original glass sound recording is in the Curator Branch)

Other tapes included in this series are:

Admiral Hewitt:

1. on Sicily

2. on World War I

3. two tapes on unidentified subjects

Other: two unidentified tapes

Box 7 (oversized)

Series III: Scrapbooks and Newspaper clippings

1. Scrapbook with Newspaper clippings

Addition of Accession Number 2005-122

Box 8

Series II: Subject File

1. Biography

2. Naval Communications, Allied Force Headquarters, Rome, 15 Aug-23 Sep 1944

3. Manuscript: "They Sailed with Hewett"

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